How to conduct an interview

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If you are not so experienced in hiring new people, you might be asking how to conduct an interview. As good manager you should be asking yourself that question. New companies often put together interview that is not appropriate for the position they are seeking to place someone to. As a consequence – the wrong candidate is chosen for the job.

In current state of economy, you can not afford to make a mistake in recruiting. That’s why we will show you how to conduct an interview effectively, step by step.

Step one: Realize who you are searching for.

Without knowing what kind of person you are looking for, you can barely start to think about how to conduct an interview. But think not only about education and experience of an ideal candidate. Think also about abilities and natures he/she should have. Put everything on the paper and prepare a profile of an ideal candidate. Think about people she will work with, clients she will meet on daily bases, etc. Also you should prepare a list of task this person will deal with in the daily job.

Once you know who you are looking for, you have to realize how you are going to find that person. When thinking about various parts of your interview, these should help you to identify if the person fits the ideal profile of an applicant or not. While some character abilities and soft skills can be evaluated practically in any talk – so you just et the person speak, some other sills are harder to asses.

To give you an example, how would you find out if someone knows how to manage the projects? To give a question “Can you manage projects?” is a wrong technique many managers all around the world use… If you want to test practical abilities of a candidate, give him a practical test. Give him a scenario (project goals and description) and let him to show you how he would manage concrete projects and deal with concrete challenges.

Be as practical as you only can

If you want to find out if someone can peal the potatoes fast, then you should give him few potatoes, knife, and let him peal the potatoes. That is the right way how to conduct an interview.

As you can see, how to conduct an interview is not that difficult. All you have to do is to understand who you need in your company, and then prepare a list of questions, case studies and tests that will help you to identify such a person.

There are some general rules you should keep in mind when preparing your interview:

Do not overdo it with questions. If a job interview lasts tow hours, neither you nor the applicant will be able to keep high level of attention. One hour and half is max.

Do not waste time with questions that do not help you to decide. You should always know why you are asking an applicant a certain question. You should understand what abilities or skills are tested in the question. If you are not sure about it, delete the question from your interview template – it makes no sense to give it to the applicant.

Avoid asking illegal interview questions. You do not want to risk an accusation, do you?

The last, but maybe the most important advice for you is this one: Do remember that you also sell yourself in the interview. You should present the company and the opportunity you offer to chosen applicant in the best way possible. Quality of an interview reflects the quality of your company. At least ob seekers see it that way.

That is the reason why you should do your best to conduct quality interview and show some respect and interest to the applicants. At the end of the day you both should say yes. It is not only about your decision…